Dinners Lately: Grill & Carb-light

I kind of hate the term “low-carb”.  It just reminds me of the Atkins and South Beach crazes, and all the fake and processed foods that you can still eat on those diets. 

So even though I’m shooting for less carbs lately, I’m even more committed to REAL food above all else.  

So with that said, I’ve had some delightful meals recently!

Saturday we had Brian’s mom and sister over!  It was SUCH a gorgeous day that I couldn’t very well not grill out!  I also had a craving for Mexican so we decided to make up some grilled fixin’s for Fajitas!

Chicken Fajita Marinade

• juice of 2 limes
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
• few shakes of crushed red pepper
• salt

Combine ingredients then add to a large Ziploc bag with your chicken.  We had 4 breasts in the bag, and marinated them for about 2-3 hours.

Grill up your chicken, some sliced bell peppers, and sliced onion.

Serve with your favorite additions:

• tortillas
• salsa
• sour cream
• avocado
• cilantro
• cheese
• mango would also be good here, we didn’t have it though

Best eaten outside :)

I used 1 TJ’s brown rice wrap for my fajitas!  But another idea is to serve over a bed of lettuce.

This was an easy, but fun meal for company!

Sunday was even nicer!

Grilled Steak Salads

• grilled tri trip steak
• baby spinach
• cucumber, chopped
• tomato, chopped
• shallots, sliced
• chives, finely chopped
• goat cheese, crumbled
• Dressing: balsamic, olive oil, salt and pepper

We also broke out some refreshing white wine!

This was actually a bottle that we brought home from Wine Country in November.  This is a 2010 Viognier from Thumbprint Cellars in Healdsburg. 

Not sure if this is a “proper” pairing, but we liked it.  This wine has a great full flavor, reminiscent of a Chardonnay to me, but without the bite…it’s smooth :)

Last but not least…TONIGHT!

It was a warm warm Marathon Monday, and unfortunately I was at work.  However, I did leave a little early ;) Shhhh. 

We had some ground turkey to work with and we wanted an easy and fast dinner!

Greek Style Turkey Burgers!

• 1 lb ground turkey, white meat
• 1 T olive oil
• canned artichokes: 4 chokes, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped olives, canned works fine here
• crumbed feta, about 1/4 cup or more
• salt and pepper
• a few shakes of za’atar if you have it

Mix together with your hands, form into patties, grill.

I also whipped up a quick little yogurt sauce!  Just took 2-3 T of 2% plain Greek yogurt, squeeze from 1/4 lemon, salt & pepper, and whatever dried herbs and spices you like!!  I had some different mixes from Penzey’s (used more Za’atar here, Aleppo pepper, and some Sandwich Sprinkle).  Delish!  Tasted like Ranch dressing :)

As you can see I enjoyed mine on lettuce, with some tomatoes, and a sweet potato on the side.

The burgers were incredibly flavorful!! 

I leave you with an outfit post!!  Long time no outfits around here.

But I have a current obsession…in the form of BRIGHT yellow skinny jeans…

 

They just make me happy.  I encourage you to go get some fun colored pants!!

Mine are from the Gap.

Just have to get through this week…then on Friday I leave for a fun weekend in VEGAS!!  I’ve never been, SO excited to have a girls weekend by the pool :) 

Any must see or must do or must eat things while I’m in Vegas???

Spanish Steak: Another Family Favorite

I’m on a kick right now, and apparently craving comfort food.  Not just any comfort food, but things I ate growing up.  I feel like every week lately I’ve been calling my mom for another recipe.

The best part is that now I can take these “old school” dishes and tweak them to my taste as well as make them a little healthier if needed!

First was the chicken stroganoff!  I was so happy to have that back in my life.

Next was the elusive “Spanish” Steak.  I put “Spanish” in quotes because I’m fairly certain the only Spanish thing about it is the use of Spanish olives!  My family has ZERO Spanish in it’s lineage, so I wouldn’t call this authentically Spanish by any means.

However it IS extremely flavorful and super easy!  I have no idea where this one originated, but for once it wasn’t the ‘ol Betty Crocker cookbook ;)  All I know is that my mom made it, my grandmother made it, and apparently my great-grandmother made it!

One of the key ingredients was classic Campbell’s condensed tomato soup, but I’d be willing to bet the Campbell’s soup back in my grandmother’s day didn’t have high fructose corn syrup or “flavoring”…whatever that is. 

That was my first change…the soup!  I went with Trader Joe’s Creamy Tomato soup, as I’ve noticed it’s flavor and creaminess remind me of Campbell’s.

The only difference was that I needed to add a little thickener (flour) as this is not condensed soup.

Another tweak I made was to add a LOT more veggies!  This stew bakes for 2-3 hours, so the veggies definitely cook down a lot and I am always craving more.  

I also used lean stew meat!

Mom didn’t specify what cut of beef to use, but for a slow cooking stew like this you can go with the less-expensive kind :)

Definitely bake some potatoes for this one too.

One more thing! Don’t let the olives scare you away if you don’t like olives!  I never liked olives and would just pick them out, but I could NOT resist the flavor this dish has!!!  If you’re not crazy about olives, I would add maybe half of them and just add some extra juice from the jar :)

Ok the recipe!!

Spanish Steak
adapted from my family’s recipe

Makes about 6 good size servings.

• 1T olive oil
• 1.5 – 2lb stew meat
• 24 oz tomato soup *(SEE NOTE)
• small (5 oz give or take) jar of Spanish olives (the green kind with the pimento in them), with juice
• 3-4 bell peppers, roughly chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4-5 shakes Worcestershire sauce
• 3-5 shakes Tobasco (depending on taste)**
• 3-4 carrots, chopped in large chunks
• 1T flour + 1T water

NOTES:
*the soup: I mentioned above I used Trader Joe’s Creamy Tomato.  You want to find a soup that’s JUST tomato…a simple tomato soup.  I bought one other can to try, can’t remember the brand, but it had basil in it…not okay.  Check the ingredients.  Creamy is better for this as well!

** I used maybe 4 or 5 shakes of Tabasco and it left a slight heat in my mouth but I wouldn’t call it spicy.  Growing up I never felt any heat from this dish, so you could go either way!

Pre-heat the oven to 350

In a large heavy bottom oven-safe pot (or Dutch oven), heat oil over med-high heat and add meat.  Cook 3-4 minutes, just until meat is browned on the outside.

Add soup, olives and their juice, pepper, onion, Worcestershire sauce, and tobasco.  Stir to combine and put in oven, covered.  Bake for 1.5 hrs.

(after 1 hour you might want to put in some potatoes to bake along with the stew!  This is what we always do!!)

After the 1.5 hrs: combine water and flour and stir to get rid of lumps, add this mixture to the stew, stirring well to combine.  Also add carrots at this point.

Continue to bake for another 45min - 1 hour, uncovered.

There’s just no way to make a beef stew look pretty.

Usually I’ll put a little butter on my potato…because if I’m actually baking a potato I’m having some butter on it :)  Then once I eat off the butter parts, I’ll pour some stew right over it.  SO good!

I hope you try this one out!  I have another recipe from mom I need to make as well, and I haven’t had it in years so I’m excited!

And just for fun…an outfit!

Actually this was what I wore to the Nespresso Dinner with Ted Allen!

• red cardigan: Banana Republic
• turquoise top: Banana Republic
• Black crops with gold zippers: Banana Outlet!
• Tan/Red pumps: Pour La Victoire

Love these pants!  I’ve been looking for some cropped black dress pants, and bonus for having fun zipper details in front!

South of the Border BBQ

p.s. still time to enter my giveaway!!

There’s always been a Memorial Day weekend BBQ at my place. It started…I’m thinking 5 years ago when I was living in Somerville with my bff Jocelyn! Brian’s birthday usually falls around then so we had a bbq/party and the tradition stuck.

Last year, it was our first big BBQ at our new House with our new patio furniture…and a little more tame than years past ;)

Recap of last years BBQ

This year was different. The Half Marathon was that weekend and the last thing I needed was to be overly stressed by hosting a party…but I still wanted a party!!

Solution = SMALL party :)

I find, at least for myself, I get the most stressed about having people over when I have multiple “groups” of friends coming. They all might know each other, but I constantly feel like I need to spend time and chat with everyone while still trying to get all the last minute food details ready.

I’m much more relaxed once everyone has eaten haha.

So in order to have a stress-free gathering I stuck to a small group of people…9, including Brian and myself.

Although, I still managed too make enough for 20…oh well! Leftovers!!

The Menu was entirely inspired by the June issue of Cooking Light!

There were SO many awesome sounding Mexican-ish dishes in there, that I decided to have a Mexican themed BBQ!

The Menu:

Drinks

Minted Lemon-Lime Watermelon Aqua Fresca (non-alcoholic, I had two lovely pregnant ladies that day)
Skinny Girl Margaritas!
Brian’s beer (he has 2 varieties on tap in the basement)

Snacks

Homemade Guac – I special requested my friend to make it since she uses our FAVORITE recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.
Mango Salsa – homemade by another guest!

Main Dishes

Flank Steak Tacos – made the recipe for the steak and had the options out for people to make tacos: tortillas, cheese, salsa, sour cream, avocado
Ancho Chili Chicken – a favorite family recipe! Already on the blog!!

Sides

Cilantro Lime Rice – made by a guest
Baked Black Beans with Chorizo – LOVED this recipe, the chorizo gives it so much flavor.
Grilled Corn on the Cob – never got around to making the jalapeño butter, but I bet it’s delicious.
Pasta salad – made by a guest, minus the chicken
Fruit Salad – made by a guest

Dessert!!

Margarita Ice-Cream Sandwiches – I wasn’t in love with the sound of these at first, but they looked so cute and went perfectly with the theme!
SOOO happy I made them, they are delicious!!
Dessert Nachos! – totally came up with this one in my head and I am obsessed with how they came out! Definitely going to do a full post on these :)

The plan:

Friday:

• Shop for all ingredients and drinks. Also assess if you need any paper plates, or other disposable items. I already had enough at home.


• Clean!!


• Make cookie dough for ice cream sandwiches (it has to chill before baking)
  

Saturday:

• bake off cookies for ice cream sandwiches
  


• make marinade for chicken, rub for steak, and get all meats into large Ziploc bags to marinate overnight


• make Ancho chili sauce
  


• Make/Prepare beans to be baked the next day. Don't add cheese, tomatoes, or green onion yet.


• Make simple syrup, and prep lime juice for watermelon aqua fresca


• chop up watermelon


• Prepare tortilla chips for dessert nachos
  

Sunday:

• Run half marathon (if that’s what you’re doing that morning)


• come home, shower, and get ready


• final clean up/pick up


• husk corn


• Guests Arrive!!


• Fire up the grill and start grilling the meats, then corn


• Place toppings on beans then bake


• Make your friends a batch of Watermelon Aqua Fresca
  


• After everyone eats, sneak back to the kitchen to make the chocolate sauce and whip the cream for the desserts :)


• ENJOY!

It was a fun low-key, relaxing day. No one stayed too late, we did a quick clean up, and were able to crash at a reasonable hour considering we had got up around 6 that morning!

How do you handle the stress of being the hostess?? No matter how stressed I get, I still LOVE having people over! Usually my problem is a bite off more than I can chew…we probably didn’t need as much food, especially 2 desserts…oh well! I’ve been enjoying mini ice cream sandwiches all week!

Happy Friday!! I have my first dance performance tonight for the company I am in up in NH. This is sort of a practice performance for just one of the pieces, but still…a little nervous :) Our big show isn’t until September.

First 10k

Today I ran my first 10k!!  This was the Tufts 10k for Women and it was an awesome event; I’m so glad this was the race I chose for my first jump past a 5k!

Everyone I talked to that has run this race in the past would tell me that it’s a great race and so much fun.  I was trying to think of how this race was going to be SO much better than any other, but now I get it.

7,500 women participated (and a few men that I saw), and there was just a high energy feeling all around.  The race started and ended at the Boston Common and it was a beautiful day to be outside…upper 60’s, sunny, but with enough cloud cover so you weren’t hot. 

First things first.  I fueled up for this race with a nice pancake breakfast!  The race didn’t start until noon so that gave plenty of time for digestion.  I whipped up some Kodiak Cakes.

I with chocolate chips of course, one with Maple Almond Butter for my usual pre-run mix of carbs + nut butter, and 1 plain. 

Real maple syrup on the side.

I ate this around 8am, so around 10:30/11, on my way into the city, I also had 1 slice of whole wheat bread with PB.  This plus my morning pumpkin spice coffee was great race fuel!

The Commons was packed, luckily there were sufficient port-a-potty’s

Not gonna lie, it was pretty exciting to have my name on my bib!

Joc and I before the race.

Took about 8 minutes to reach the starting line once the race started, but Jocy and I kept a nice smooth, but slow pace.  This was going to be the longest either of us had ran and the last thing we wanted to do was crap out early because we went too fast!

I was feeling really good during this race, I’m finally realizing what it means to settle into a pace, and even after finishing I think I could of kept on going for a while :)

I stayed with Jocy for the first 4 miles, and stopped with her when she needed to stop but finally I knew my legs just needed to keep moving so I went on alone for the last 2.2 miles. 

This was also the first time I had anyone besides Brian there to cheer…it was great to see him and my mom between mile 5 and 6! 

See still smiling :)

He also grabbed a shot of the elite runners

  (I believe the girl on the left won, she was from RI too!)

I picked up the speed as much as I could during the last .2 miles, and my official time was 1:10:29, an 11:21 pace.  Looks slow on paper, but it felt ok to me plus included a few stops in the first half. 

I’m just pumped I did it, plus wasn't dying at the end!!  Heck this felt WAY easier than that damn 5k a few weeks ago in the heat!!

Looking forward to setting a new running goal :)

This race also had some pretty sweet swag as well…

 
lots of goodies, plus even more after the race: bagels, bananas, granola bars, fruit cups, dried fruit, PowerAde…my hands were full!

After the race, Brian, my Mom, and I walked back to my car (felt way farther than before the race haha), and grabbed lunch!

It was a gorgeous fall day, and we did as many other and dined outside…there’s not going to be many more days left for that this year.

I was in the mood for a really good sandwich and found just the one at Abe and Louis.  Abe’s is one of the top steak houses in Boston, but they have a great lunch menu too with many more affordable items if your not in the mood for a $40 rib eye!

It was SO nice sitting outside (sorry mom, she’s not going to like this picture since I caught her after taking a bite of bread!)

Love Abe’s bread basket…so many choices!  The best is that sweet raisin crisp cracker-like bread

   

My sandwich craving, fulfilled. 

Filet Mignon club with tomato and arugula, and sweet potato fries (which were mostly eaten by Brian and my mom)

Mom got a beautiful salad; steak, tomatoes, blue cheese, romaine, sweet onions, and balsamic vinaigrette

 

Brian had the crab cake and clam chowder (unpictured).  They’re crab cakes are so good because its almost all crab meat, nothing else. 

 

There was lots more fun to be had this weekend, including craziness at UNH homecoming!!  But this girl is TIRED and ready for bed.